Health-care facility faces lawsuit

Disabled patient, 23, found to be pregnant

July 15, 2005|By Angela Rozas and Josh Noel, Tribune staff reporters

The mother of a 23-year-old brain-damaged patient found to be pregnant while living in a Bloomingdale health-care facility has sued the company and the doctor who cared for the woman, alleging abuse and neglect.

Cheryl Hale-Crom, filed a civil suit in Cook County on Thursday alleging her daughter was sexually assaulted and physically abused by "agents and employees" of the Alden Village Health Facility for Children and Young Adults between November and December 2004.

Hale-Crom's daughter, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, is completely disabled and is fed through a tube. The woman was taken to a hospital June 11 after Alden workers and the woman's doctor, Roland Borrasi, noticed her stomach was swollen, according to the lawsuit. Alden workers allegedly believed she might have a feeding-tube problem, though one nurse reportedly said she might be pregnant. Tests revealed the woman was almost 29 weeks pregnant.

The woman's family removed her and her twin sister, who is also disabled, from the facility and placed them in another one, said the mother's attorney, Ed Fox. Both women are being tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

Bloomingdale Police Detective John Krueger said the department was investigating allegations of aggravated criminal sexual assault in regard to the pregnancy, and that it was notified of the incident June 11. He confirmed the family's report that the woman lived at the facility and was almost 29 weeks pregnant when her pregnancy was discovered. Krueger said police are asking anyone with information to contact them. The Illinois Department of Public Health also is investigating.

Jane Amata, a spokeswoman for Alden Management Services, which manages the 109-bed facility and 31 others in the Chicago area, said the company had no new comments about the lawsuit or investigation, other than those that were made previously to the Tribune. Amata said Wednesday that the company was cooperating and that employees were submitting DNA samples for testing.

The lawsuit alleges the facility and Alden Management Services are guilty of abuse, neglect, negligence and willful and wanton conduct. The suit also alleges Borrasi was negligent in not noticing in his monthly examinations that the woman was pregnant, or at least that she had missed several menstrual cycles, the last being recorded in February.

The lawsuit also alleges that the facility and management company inflicted emotional distress against the woman's mother by not providing her time to determine what options she and her daughter might have had in terms of the pregnancy. The woman will likely deliver the baby by Caesarean section in mid-August, Fox said.

Hale-Crom said Wednesday that she would care for the child, a girl.

"It's difficult to imagine anything being more horrific than this," Fox said. "They neglected her in the sense they've failed to protect her."

The facility was fined $50,000 in September for failing to provide constant supervision to its neediest residents. A 12-year-old boy died in February 2004 after becoming trapped in the padding and mattress of his bed at the facility. The fine was appealed, but a hearing has not been set. The family filed a wrongful-death suit against the facility in September.

The facility also was sued in November 2003 by the family of an 11-year-old mentally retarded girl who was allegedly repeatedly sexually abused between July 2000 and May 2001, according to the lawsuit. arozas@tribune.com